… while insisting it was not intoxicated, could not explain its nudity.

Oct

26

2011

Bend of the River

Directed by Anthony Mann, starring Jimmy Stewart. That's a pretty good
combination. They made eight movies together between 1950 and 1955,
five of them Westerns. This one is from 1952.

Jimmy plays Glyn McLyntock, guiding a wagon train of pilgrims out
to their new home in Oregon. As the movie begins, he rescues one Emerson
Cole from a lynching; Cole is a scoundrel, but doesn't deserve that.
A short time later, Cole returns the favor by saving McLyntock's life
in a battle with some pesky Indians. An uneasy and, it turns out,
temporary alliance is formed.

The wagons make it to Portland, eventually, but the settlers' problems
aren't over. Their new home is out in the wilderness, they're short
on supplies, and they get shafted by the merchant with whom they
made arrangements. McLyntock must deal with the crook, and also
faces a double cross by his putative ally, Cole.

It's action-packed, full of beautiful scenery, and a decent amount
of fun. (For a 1950s movie, the body count is pretty high.)
Rock Hudson has a medium-sized role, and I was surprised
to learn that Jimmy Stewart resented the disproportionate
amount of attention paid to Hudson when the movie came out,
so much so that he refused to work with him again. (Or so IMDB
claims.) I thought Jimmy liked everybody.

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